The Manacles of Time
by Alucard's Familiar
Summary: Sequel to The Mummy Returns. Time is an ever turning wheel traveling down the road called Future. There are many bumps in that road, some bigger than others. (Formatting may be funny, not sure why)
1. Greetings

Alucard's Familiar: This is my take on a third movie, if there ever was one (Grumbles because they ended the movie series)

Jonathan: And I have been chosen be her official spokesperson. (Quite proud)

Alucard's Familiar: Don't be alarmed, good old Rick and Evie will pop in ever now and again to relieve our good friend of his duties and do it themselves. Can't baby sit all the time.

Jonathan: I resent that comment. (Ego blown)

Alucard's Familiar: (Shrugs) Disclaimer please.

Jonathan: Alucard's Familiar doesn't own The Mummy or any of its characters.

Alucard's Familiar: There will be an OC in here, but she won't be Mary Sue I promise.

Rick and Evie: Can we get on with it already?

Alex: Before they start kissing in the blimp again!

Alucard's Familiar: Okay people go get out of here!

The Manacles of Time

Chapter 1

"Have I ever told you how much I love the ground?" Jonathan asked.

"About as many times that you've been able to risk our lives getting some sort of precious item or gem," Rick said as he helped Evelyn out of the balloon.

"Very funny," Jonathan said as he hugged his gigantic diamond to his chest.

Evelyn caught her son as he jumped out of the balloon and into her arms. "Uncle Jonathan, what are you going to do with it?"

"Loose it in a card game," Evelyn answered her son.

"Very funny Evie," Jonathan mumbled. "I plan on giving it to the museum for a fine and hefty price."

"You do realize that the museum wouldn't be able to really pay for that," Evelyn said as she carried her son with her.

"They could set up a payment plan," Jonathan said. "I would never have to work again."

"Proving to be a lazy drunk again?" Rick asked as he wrapped an arm around his wife's waist.

"You both have such poor ideas of humor," Jonathan said as he stumbled through the sand towards the car.

Evelyn let her son down to follow his uncle. "What are we going to do with him?"

"Who, Jonathan?" Rick asked. "We could always tie him up and send him off to live with Ardeth."

No, I mean Alex," Evelyn answered. "He's just witnessed things that have only been told in Egyptian myth and stories that don't exist. Someone he's put all of his trust and hopes in betrayed him. Mr. Hafez deserved what he got, but will Alex be able to trust people outside of his own family ever again?"

"Alex will handle it, he's a tough guy." Rick said, "You've seen that."

"You're right," Evelyn nodded and leaned her head against Rick's shoulder. She watched as Jonathan jumped into the car and teased Alex by moving from side to side in the car until the young boy was made to run around in circles until he managed to climb up behind his uncle and pounce on him. "Looks like I get shotgun."

"Looks like it," Rick said as he opened the car door for his wife, then rounded to the other side and letting himself in.

"Wait a minute O'Connell!" Izzy shouted as he ran out after them. "You're brother-in-law owes me half that diamond!"

"Izzy, how the hell do you expect to cut a diamond?" Rick asked.

"I don't know, but you owe me something for that hell you put me through!" Izzy complained.

"Izzy," Rick said as he pulled out one of his pistols.

"What?" The man asked.

"You're going to get shot," Rick answered as he cocked the gun and aimed it at the dirigible pilot. He moved his shot enough to aim at the ground and pulled the trigger, the bullet hitting the sand near the man's feet.

"AH! O'Connell you'll pay for that!" Izzy shrieked and darted back behind the doors of The Magic Carpet.

"I paid, I let you live," Rick mumbled as he put his gun away. Evelyn slapped him good naturedly on the arm as he started the car and Rick shrugged.

"He did save our lives you know," Evelyn pointed out as they drove across the sands.

"I realize that," Rick said.

"Then you should have been nicer to him," Evelyn protested.

"I'll send him a thank you card," Rick said and Evelyn laughed.

OOOO

The car came to a sputtering halt in the middle of nowhere, the radiator empty.

"You have got to be kidding me." Rick said as he smacked the steering wheel.

"Any idea where we are?" Jonathan asked as he looked around.

"None," Evelyn answered as she too gazed across the landscape.

"What's that?" Alex asked as he pointed over to a black spot on one the dunes.

Couldn't be a shadow it's too late in the day for those," Evelyn said as she squinted her eyes to look. "Looks like a hole of some sort."

"Well, I say we should leave it alone, remember the last time you two investigated something?" Jonathan asked.

"I'm not going to bring anything back this time," Evelyn said as she got out of the car and started walking towards the hole in the dunes.

Rick hopped out of the car and followed after her, "Can't let her go alone." He shrugged at his inability to get his wife to stay in the car, but at the same time didn't blame her. If it was just a cave, it would at least get them out of the sun until it was cool enough for them to push the car enough to get some momentum up so they could move it.

Jonathan sighed, "Well, can't rightly let them go alone now can we?" With that, he got out of the car and swung Alex out behind him, both jogging along through the sand to catch up.

The minute they stepped onto the floor of the cave, it crumbled, sending them crashing down to the level below. Sand was their mattress, but even a soft landing pad such as that did not ease the pain from the fall.

"That, was not comfortable," Jonathan said as he sat up and shook the sand out of his hair.

"Where are we?" Evelyn asked as Rick helped her to her feet.

"Looks like an old tomb or temple of some kind," Rick said as he fumbled in his pocket for a match. He found it and lit it on the heel of his boot, then lit the old torch that and fallen from the entrance with them.

"Doesn't look like and tomb I've ever seen," Evelyn said as she picked up Alex and gave him a hug, checking to see if he was hurt in the fall, "But it does resemble a temple structure."

"Like the collapsing floor?" Jonathan asked.

"Very funny, Evelyn mumbled as she spied a hallway, "Let's go this way."

"Nah ah," Rick said as he grabbed his wife's arm, "You aren't going anywhere."

"Ooh Rick stop it," Evelyn said as she pulled her arm from his grasp. "I'm fine, besides, we need to find a way out of here." And with that she took Rick's torch and started walking down the hallway.

"Evie wait!" Rick and Jonathan shouted, Alex shouting and equally excited, "Mom!" At the same time.

Evelyn stopped and turned around to watch them come up behind her. She realized then that they were still trying to deal with her death, even though her son had managed to bring her back life. She felt tears well up in her eyes as they neared and she did her best to hide the, not wanting them to think there was anything wrong.

"What?" She asked innocently.

"Well..." Jonathan stumbled.

"We're coming too you know," Rick finished for his brother-in-law.

"You're not leaving us behind again," Alex said, then his eyes widened as he realized too late what he had said and his father hissed at him to be quiet.

"I...I didn't...mean too..." Evelyn stuttered, then handed the torch to Rick, allowing him to take the lead.

Rick took the torch gratefully and walked ahead of them, gun ready.

They emerged from the hallway into a big room. They could see little until Rick found a stationary torch and lit it, giving the room a little more light.

Alex spied a light mirror and angled it towards the firelight. After catching the glow he moved it around until he found the mate to the mirror, letting the light bounce off of it to the other mirrors scattered about the room.

"It looks like a burial preparation chamber," Evelyn said as she looked around in the dim light. "Or a sacrificial tomb."

"Do you always have to point out the bad things it could be too?" Jonathan asked.

Evelyn shrugged as her husband scanned about the room.

"I don't see another hallway,"Rick said as he finished scouting about the room, avoiding a ten foot hole in the ground and stopping Alex from knocking over an old vase at the same time.

"I guess we'll just have to go back the way we came and look for another way out," Evelyn said as she turned back to the hallway. She and the rest of her family were about to enter the hallway when the entire room lurched and rocked. There was a concussion and a flash of amber and pink light.

"What the hell was that?" Rick asked as he pulled away from his wife, having been covering her against the wall while the tomb had been shaking.

Alex looked back to see what sort of damage the shaking had caused the tomb and screamed. Out of the shadows, walked Imhotep, flesh and blood, and alive.

"Can't we ever get rid of you?" Rick shouted as he pulled his son to him. He went to draw his gun, but another shake and concussion rocked the tomb again. The same flash blinded them for a moment, but when they could see again, someone rammed into Imhotep, knocking him into the hole that Rick had avoided only moments before.

"That should hold him for a little while," it was a girl's voice and they looked to see a fifteen year old girl standing before them. Her hazel eyes danced with amusement as she walked over to Rick and handed him a gallon tankard. "I do believe you'll need that." She jiggled the tankard, and the sound of liquid sloshing in it reached their ears. "I have rope too so we can get out of the ghastly place." She looked over to where Imhotep was trying to pull himself out of the hole. "Now!" Without waiting for a reply, she darted down the dark hallway.

I" like her idea," Jonathan said as he tore down the hallway after the girl.

Rick pulled his wife and son down the hallway. He was not ready to trust this person, but getting away from Imhotep, as far away as possible, was more important at that point.

When they reached the room they had fallen into they found Jonathan climbing up the rope the girl said she had had. Said girl was standing at the end of the rope looking up when she heard them coming.

"Quickly Alex, you next, then you Miss," she looked over at Evelyn with a smile as she hoisted the young boy up the rope so he wouldn't have to climb so far.

"It's Mrs. O'Connell to you," Rick said darkly.

"Yes Sir, and I am guessing you would wish to be addressed as Mr. O'Connell then?" The girl asked him with a grin and a sparkle in her eye.

"You're creeping me out, Rick said as he let his wife begin to climb up the rope. "I don' know who the hell you are, but I am not letting you anywhere near my family."

The girl's eyes suddenly dulled and she lowered them to the ground in a submissive gesture. She turned and climbed up the rope after Evelyn, leaving Rick with the torch.

Footsteps drew Rick's attention to the hallway. He found Imhotep entering the room as the robust American leapt halfway up the rope and stared back down at the Egyptian. Retrieving his gun with one hand while holding onto the rope with the other, he aimed at the priest, but before he could pull the trigger, a mighty pull on the rope brought him upward, sending his bullet harmlessly over the priest's head.

"Time to go." The girl said as Rick was pulled the rest of the way up.

"Hey, that's my line," Rick said as the young brunette coiled the rope as they began to walk back to the car.

"And it works wonderfully," she said with a smile.

Rick quickly poured the water into the radiator as he nervously kept watch for Imhotep.

"He';s not here anymore," the girl said. "He's gone back to his own time, for the moment."

"What are you talking about?" Jonathan asked.

"The Imhotep you just encountered was not the one you have sent to the Underworld Mr. Carnahan." The girl answered. "He is straight from Egypt, jumping forward in time over 2,000 years."

"And how in the hell did he manage to do that?" Rick asked.

"So you did not see the manacles he wore about his wrists?" She asked. "They look like these, only less tarnished." Holding up her wrists she let the sun catch the silver manacles. "He used these to jump forward in time, while I used them to fall back."

"So you're saying we're dealing with the same damn scumbag we've played with before," Rick asked as he got into the car.

"No, quite the opposite actually," she said. "He's mortal now, but the drawback is you can't kill him, for it will disrupt time."

"But if we kill him now we won't have to deal with him anymore" Rick said as he started the car.

"Yes, but if you did do that, think about how it would affect your past." She pointed out. "Would you have met your wife? Would you have gotten as close to her as you did? You're son probably wouldn't have even been conceived. Would you want to risk losing everything that is dear to you just because you wanted to kill one man."

Rick stare at her for a moment before flooring the gas pedal and spraying the girl with sand as he sped off through the desert.

"Rick!" Evelyn shouted at him. "How could you do that to her? She helped us out of that tomb after all!"

"I don';t trust her," Rick answered as he drove.

"Well you can't just leave her out there! She's still young," Evelyn protested.

"Watch me," her husband said while staring at the sand ahead of him.

"Ooh Rick," Evelyn fumed and turned back to look at the girl. She caught a glimpse of her before she disappeared behind a dune.

The girl smiled as she watched the car speed away, "Can't get rid of me that easily O'Connell." The manacles on her wrists flashed and she disappeared, following them through time.

OOOO

Alucard's Familiar: Well? What did you think of the first chapter? Is it any good? Please be gentle, this is my first, but I love constructive criticism. Tell me what you think.

Jonathan: Who's that girl?

Alucard's Familiar: You'll just have to wait and find out. (Grins)

Jonathan: Review, then maybe we'll get to find out the girl's name at least!


	2. Who Are You?

Alucard's Familiar: Okay, here's chapter two. Not nearly as long, but not too short either.

Jonathan: Do we find out who the girl is?

Alucard's Familiar: Read to find out.

Jonathan: Alucard's Familiar doesn't own The Mummy Returns or any of its characters.

Alucard's Familiar: Enjoy

Chapter 2

They stopped in Cairo, the ferry not leaving until the next day, they settled for lounging about a café in the city. Jonathan had wandered off somewhere, leaving the O'Connell's sitting at the café. Rick and Evelyn were discussing things over cups of coffee and Alex listened while idly munching on a muffin.

"I still can't believe you left that girl back there," Evelyn said.

"Look, I'm sorry Evie, but I didn't trust her, and I still don't," Rick explained. "It's bad enough Imhotep is back, it's worse still that he can travel through time and hurt us in other ways. We don't need more people from different time eras who haven't even been through what we've been through telling us things they have no business knowing about."

"I still think you could have at least given her a ride back here," Evelyn said.

"Well I'm glad you're so worried about me but there's really no need to be," came a vaguely familiar voice.

Rick, Evelyn, and Alex looked up to see the girl they had met in the tomb. She smile at them, not moving, just letting her presence be known.

"How the hell did you get here so fast?" Rick asked curiously.

"Oh in the 90s there are roads throughout the desert and cars that are better and faster," she explained. "I've been to see your Medji friend and back again. He gets time sick, it's rather amusing." She chuckled.

"Time sick?" Alex asked.

"It's where you experience déjà vu over and over again until you feel quite nauseas." Ardeth's voice was music to their ears.

"I see you've met our nameless stalker," Rick said. "What are the 90s like anyways?"

"Very fast," Ardeth answered, making Alex laugh.

"I have an idea," said the girl. "How about we sit down and formally introduce ourselves. I then won't be nameless to you and all of you will find out why I am here."

They agreed and they all sat together at the small table, waiting for her to explain.

"My name is Ashley, I am sixteen years old, and the time period I am from is the 1950s. Or at least I am sixteen in the 1950s, and I would like to live to be able to experience them, but that will only happen if I live through this." She smiled at the confusion on their faces. "I am here to make sure none of you die and that Imhotep is sent back to where he belongs. To do this, I was given these, The Silver Manacles of Time and Space, abbreviated as The Manacles of Time." She flashed the manacles on her wrists again, as she had done in the desert.

"There is something you did not tell me," Ardeth cut in, "You said to me that Imhotep wears the manacles as well. There is only one pair of manacles in existence, and they have yet to be uncovered in this era. How is it that you have come by these while Imhotep wears the original pair?"

"My parents…salvaged these manacles in a dig before I was born. This year in fact they find them, but they told no one, not even their closest friends what they had found. They kept them hidden away until I was old enough to receive them on my thirteenth birthday. I have traveled to many different time periods, only to observe mind you and have learned many things. Mainly how to travel." She paused for a moment, thinking of how she was going to explain the next part. "When you travel through time, you end up in the same exact place you left, only so many years into the future or past. Traveling from one place to the other must be done during that time period. I usually go forward in time to travel places. Travel speed is much faster in the new millennium than it is now."

"Yeah, they probably have flying cars by then," Alex said.

Ashley chuckled, "No, but their cars are much more advanced."

"So why is Imhotep trying to kill us… yet again?" Rick asked, getting back on topic.

"Yes, Imhotep," she smiled sheepishly, sorry she had gotten off topic. "As you know, he was one of the Pharaoh's priests, and in being a priest, he had magic. From what I've gathered, Imhotep had a visions of what would happen to him after he died. He wanted revenge. So how do you get rid of it?"

"Get rid of the problem," Rick answered. "So Imhotep came to the future to get rid of us so he can successfully regenerate and destroy the world."

"Wait, but he originally wanted to come back to resurrect Anak-su-namun," Evelyn started. "If he had a vision of us destroying him, then has he seen that Anak will also betray him and let him die?"

"He may have, he may have not," Ashley answered. "All we know is, he's after you, and we have to make sure he doesn't succeed."

"Wait a minute, if he wanted to prevent us from killing him like we did ten years ago, why is he coming here now, to this time period, and not back then?" Rick asked.

"I am not sure Mr. O'Connell," Ashley answered. "I think, if he has seen what is to happen with Anak as well as himself, he wants to let what happened, happen, then eradicate you in the future and he himself would stay here, bringing Anak with him."

"How did you find out about all of this?" Rick asked. "Who told you?"

"That, Mr. O'Connell, is my business," Ashley answered firmly.

"And what makes you think we'll trust you?" Rick asked.

"You don't have a choice Mr. O'Connell," Ashley answered. "Do you want to see your son live to see his next birthday? Your wife to live to see her next anniversary, and for you to live and to spend it with her?"

That hit a nerve, "I guess I don't have a choice under those circumstances."

"I thought you'd see it my way," Ashley said as she stood. "Now, when I left from my time, Jonathan had already been gone. Shall we go prevent it?"

"Jonathan!" Evelyn stood up quickly, "Where is he?"

"In a bar about a block away from here," Ashley answered and Evelyn darted down the street, the four of them trailing behind her. Ashley easily passed up Alex and Rick, scooted passed Ardeth, and caught up to Evelyn, pushing her onto the right path, then pulling her to a stop before she passed the tavern entirely.

Evelyn burst in first, "Jonathan!"

The man looked up from the bar, "Oh, hello old mum. What are you doing here?" Behind him, Imhotep struck.

Ardeth came up and blocked the blade with his sword, "Move away!"

"No need to tell me twice!" Jonathan said as he ducked away and Ashley came up and crosscut the back of the priest's neck. He slumped to the floor out cold.

"He'll stay out long enough for us to get out of here," she said as she jumped off the bar.

"Let's go!" Rick shouted and with that, they darted down the street and out of sight.

OOOO

Alucard's Familiar: Any good? Really bad? Tell me what you think, now that the basic plot is out.

Jonathan: Do I still get killed?

Alucard's Familiar: It could be arranged.

Jonathan: No thank you.

Alucard's Familiar: Please review!


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